Just earlier today he grabbed at least ten different items that he "needed" including a mini-mop and a bucket, a water spurter, a car with wobbly wheels, a football etc. No, No and No.
"Mama, how about these?", holding a bag of mini multi-coloured balls. Definitely not. I can just imagine myself picking them from the floor.
"Mama, I want some popcorn", looking with admiration at the multi-coloured popcorn, as if painted by a toddler in poisonous shades of green, yellow and pink" "Eddie, put it back please"
"Mama, should I have some... (insert the rest of the plastic tat on the shelves)" "No, darling, we don't need any of that"
"Mama, you are a bit grumpy"
So far, so good. I persisted. I am not going to give up, despite his voice getting higher and thinner, with some fake tears added to a melancholy look of despair.
And as I was congratulating myself for holding my ground, we came across a display of the garish sunglasses. Eddie looks at the tatty shades, like Paris Hilton would at a new pair of Louis Vuitton Evasion.
The voice acquires a trembling crescendo: "They are so beautiful".
Mind you, last week he got a pair of pink shades with the diamante motifs, and I couldn't dissuade him it was for the girls. The glasses didn't last a day.
"Eddie, please, we have to go".
You know how tots become so heavy like lead when they don't want to move, they fall down in an artistic heap, and if you try to lift them, they slid down through your arms as if made of liquid.
The audience started to aggregate. And how tots love an appreciative audience?!
To escape the stares and tut-tuts, I grabbed the sunglasses and Eddie and rushed to pay.
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The likes of Supernannies would crucify me for my inconsistent parenting and being a pushover. Perhaps they have a point.
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We are all pushovers at times, I think you just have to go with your gut and see what feels right. My kids also get me sucked in to buy the 99p tat too. Mich x
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, look at that beautiful smile - an absolute bargain at 99p ! xx
ReplyDeleteI know, Cheryl, that's priceless. :)
ReplyDeleteMich, glad I'm not the only one.
But that's just standard good sense! Say no to the first 9 requests and yes to the final one! Only way to get round a shop :)
ReplyDeleteThose blooming bargain shops! My 4 year old always seems to manipulate me into getting a small piece of tat. Saying that though, the motorbike he got from the £1 shop has lasted ages and he plays with it all the time! Bonus :)
ReplyDeleteOh your right those shops are a hazard I find myself doing a crab walk trying to use my (luckily not to slender)frame to shield the toy section from his eye line. It ends up looking like a dodgy recreation of a Spiderman movie but hey 50 percent of the time it works ;-)
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